News for 11 April 2010
Sunday, 11 April 2010 09:27 | 
| 
All the news for Sunday 11 April 2010
Wapda overcome mighty scare to beat PAF
By Shazad Ali
KARACHI: Formidable Wapda overcame a big fright when they scored a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over minnows PAF in the national hockey championship at Hockey Club of Pakistan on Saturday.
PAF knocked the life out of Wapda with two goals when Mushtaq slammed home on a penalty corner in the fifth minute and skipper Kashif Yaqoob slammed home in the 11th minute.
Wapda took six minutes to recover through Sohail Abbas who scored one of the four penalty corners awarded to Wapda.
The Pakistan full-back, who has been performing poorly in the championship after a pathetic performance in the recently-concluded World Cup, got his second when he converted a penalty stroke in the 29th minute.
The winners maintained their tempo as Waqas Sharif slotted home in the 33rd minute and then again barely 60 seconds later to make it 4-2. Farhan wrapped up the game with the fifth in the 61st minute.
Pakistan Navy handed a shock 6-3 defeat to Port Qasim Authority.
Although the losers opened the scoring through Hanif Shahzad penalty corner in the sixth minute, they were rattled as Navy went 3-1 up before breather. Falak Zaman equalised on a penalty corner in the 25th minute, while Mohammad Sabir found the target on another short corner four minutes later.
Disjointed PQA couldn’t stop the Navy onslaught as sailors found the cage for their third through Bilal Shabbir three minutes before lemon time.
The sailors continued their attack against PQA having Olympian Kashif Jawwad in the ranks after the break to make 4-1 when team captain Muhammad Rashid fired home in the 46th minute. PQA reduced the margin when Kashif utilised his international experience and netted on a defensive lapse in the 56th minute.
Navy completed the tally with Muhammad Imran and Abdul Manan goals in the 61st and 63rd minutes, while all PQA could do was to score their third through Hanif short corner two minutes from time.
Three-goal Muhammad Zubair helped PIA pulverise KESC 6-1.
The national airlines got off to a flying start with an Inayatullah penalty corner in the 21st minute, while Zubair slammed home in the 37th and 49th minutes. Inayatullah got his double in the 57th minute before KESC scored their consolation goal through Mohammad Umair in the 63rd minute.
PIA finished off when Zubair found the target for his third in the 65th minute and a Hassan Akhtar strike a minute before final whistle.
Sunday’s fixtures:
Navy v SSGC at 1.30pm; Army v HBL at 3.00pm; KESC v PQA at 4.45pm.
Dawn
BJSS not taking any chances against BPSS
By S. RAMAGURU
KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Bukit Jalil Sports School’s (BJSS) will not let their guard down although their second match in the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League against Bandar Penawar SS Juniors (BPSS) should be a breeze.
BJSS coach S. Prakash said yesterday their opponents may be junior side but every match will count and they need to keep up their winning momentum.
“The BPSS Juniors have a quite a number of players from the national Under-16 squad and many of them have been in the side for the last three years.
“So we are going up against an experienced set of players and the match will be a tough one,” said Prakash.
He said the match with BPSS Juniors will be a good gauge of his team’s ability.
“For me this match will show where we stand in our title run and what to expect against the other title contenders. The problem with our first match is the many misses from our forwards.
“We have numerous chances that went to waste and we need to rectify it. I hope the forwards will get it right tomorrow (today).”
Besides the BJSS match, two other matches today will provide an insight into the front runners for the title this year.
The combine Bandar Penawar SS-Thunderbolt team will be up against Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) at the Tun Razak Stadium. MBPJ lost 0-2 to Anderson in their opening match.
BPSS-Thunderbolt won their opening match against their juniors and will be looking for another win today.
The other match to watch out for is the Anderson versus the national women’s team in Ipoh.
BPSS-Thunderbolt coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman said their aim is not to drop any points in their bid to win the league title.
“We have to collect maximum points from all matches. That is our target. We have a good work-out yesterday but we need to see improvement in the next game,” he said.
Last year BPSS played second fiddle to BJSS but Wan Roslan wants them to win the title this year.
He reckons his team is stronger after the merger with Tenaga Nasional who supplied three players – Faisal Saari and twins Shazrul Imran Nazli and Shazril Irwan Nazli.
The Star of Malaysia
Sabah modest despite 10-goal scoring spree in opener
KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah’s debut in the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League started off with a 10-goal blast in Division Two but they are not eyeing promotion.
Assistant team manager Avtar Singh said yesterday that their participation is just the starting point of their new development plan and they are here to stay.
“We want to be a regular participant in the MJHL and winning matches will ensure our sponsors have the trust in us. It was a good start and an unexpected score line. We are on a learning mission with our Sukma squad. So playing in the MJHL will certainly help us to do well in the Malacca Sukma in June,” said Avtar yesterday.
The team have set up base in Klang and will be staying there until the Sukma in June.
Sabah, trained by former Selangor coach Paul Rajasekaran, also played in Division Two in the recent Razak Cup tournament in Pahang.
On Friday, they whipped SMK Pengkalan Permatang 10-0 and today they hope to extend their winning run against SMK Datuk Taha in Klang.
Avtar said they have an all-Sabah outfit and do not intend to have any guest players.
“The aim is to develop our players and that is why we have brought all our players here. In the past when we played in the Razak Cup, we have guest players from the peninsula.
“We are serious about developing a good set of players and this Under-19 squad is the start. We believe that with proper planning we will be able to get Sabah players into the national set up,” he said.
Only Eldon Lemare, among the 20 players registered, played in the MJHL for Bandar Penawar SS for three years.
“So you can see that we have a fresh young team with hardly any experience. But given time this squad will be good.
“Of course the ultimate aim would be to gain promotion but that is not in our plans yet. We want to see how far this team go and also to identify weak areas so that we are better prepared for the future.”
Avtar also expressed his gratitude to the State Sports Council who fully funded the team’s participation in the league.
“We will not be here if not for Sabah sports council. We hope this will be a start of a long partnership.”
The Star of Malaysia
BPCL, IOC register emphatic wins
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation recorded victories in the 28th PSPB Inter-Unit Hockey Tournament at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium on Saturday. BPCL got the better of GAIL by 4-2 and Indian Oil Corporation outplayed Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ‘A’ by 5-1.
In the first match of the day, BPCL played an aggressive game and dominated the proceedings right from the start of the match. Ajay Saroha opened the account for BPCL in the sixth minute of the match when he scored a field goal. BPCL forwards stepped up the tempo and made some attacking moves in the coming minutes of the match. Their efforts soon proved futile when Prabhdeep scored a field goal in the 12th minute to make it 2-0 for BPCL. GAIL forwards regained their composure and made some counter-attacks in the next five minutes of the game. Their efforts proved good for the team as SK Katiyar opened the account for GAIL in the 16th minute of the match. BPCL then scored two goals within a span of four minutes on resumption. Gurpreet Singh scored both goals in the 62nd and 65th minutes. BPCL forwards played a superior game as compared to GAIL forwards and hence BPCL emerged as victorious. Down by 1-4, GAIL were able to reduce the margin in the 65th minute through Alok Chasdal.
Star-packed Indian Oil Corporation were too good for ONGC A whom they trounced by 5-1. Indian Oil Corporation forwards were too good for the opposition and Olympian Deepak Thakur held the spotlight by scoring a hat-trick. He struck in the 11th, 15th and 58th minutes. The game started on an aggressive note for the winning team as Thakur scored the opening goal in the 11th minute of the match. Thalur again scored in the 15th minute of the match to make it 2-0 for Indian Oil Corporation before Mandeep Antil scored the solitary goal for the losing side in the 43rd minute. Thakur scored his third goal of the match in the 58th minute of the match to make it 3-1 for the winning team before Olympian Didar Singh (63rd) and Prabhjot Singh (68th) added one goal each to swell the winners’ tally.
Indian Express
SAI blanks Central Excise
Madikeri: Sports Authority of India registered its third win in the Super Division Hockey League championship here on Saturday, blanking Central Excise 3-0. It led 2-0 at half time.
This is SAI's third win in five matches; it drew the other two matches. Nitin sounded the boards in the 14th minute while Cheeyanna added to the tally in the 32nd minute. Muthappa rounded off the tally in the 60th.
In the other match, Army Green posted a 1-0 win over Maratha Light Infantry with Romesh scoring the goal in the 40th minute.
In Sunday's matches, HAL will play MEG, Central Excise takes on Army Green and ASC will slug it out with the Centre of Excellence.
The Hindu
Inter-District hockey tournament
VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Hockey Association will conduct the inter-District tournament for men from April 16 to 19 at the Acharya Nagarjuna University, said its general secretary Niranjan Reddy here on Saturday.
As many as 21 district teams would vie for honours in the tournament to be conducted in league-cum-knockout basis.
“Probables for the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar all-India hockey tournament to be held at Pune from April 24 will be selected during the tournament,” he added.
The Hindu
Historic victory for Kerugoya
By Oscar Pilipili
Kerugoya Girls player, Rose Nyambura and Beatrice Wafula of Moi Girls Kamusinga in the hockey final at Upper Hill School, on Saturday. Photo: Martin Mukangu/Standard
Kerugoya made history as the first girls’ team from Central Province to win hockey title following their sensational victory at Brookside National Secondary Schools Games.
The former East African champions pipped Moi Girls Kamusinga of Western 3-2 on post-match flicks to record the historic victory.
Kerugoya and Kamusinga played to a barren draw in normal and extra time to push the match into penalties.
The winners scored three penalties through Mary Kariuki, Nancy Wanjue and Carol Maina.
Kamusinga, who were playing at the finals for the first time, replied through Susan Asiko and Beatrice Wafula.
A delighted Kerugoya coach, Joseph Maina, said: "The trophy has eluded us for the last three years, but our efforts have been rewarded."
For captain Nancy Wanjue, the first hurdle (National Games) has been cleared. Focus is now on the East Africa Games.
"Our goal this season was to win the national and East Africa Games. We’ve won the first and what remains is the regional games," she said.
Kerugoya has had impressive performance this season as they have conceded only two goals from the district to the National Championships.
Wanjue said: "The two goals scored by Kamusinga are the only ones we’ve conceded this season and this shows how well we were prepared for the Championships."
Debutants Greensteds of Rift Valley beat Matuga of Coast 4-3 on post-match penalties to bag bronze and qualify for regional games that will be played at their backyard in August.
Mang’u completed Central’s rout in hockey after they outsmarted Nairobi Lenana 3-1 in a boys’ final encounter.
Mang’u opened the scoring when Edwin Wanyama scored in the 29th minute, but Evanson Alulu, son of Kamukunji games teachers, Sophie Makoba, equalised for Lenana in the 45th minute.
Mang’u, who were encouraged by their victory over Musingu in the semi-finals, scored two more goals through Edwin Wanyama and Kelvin Chege to ensure the trophy goes to Central Province.
Boys teams from Western, Rift Valley and Nyanza have dominated hockey winning the title for 26 times out of 26 the championships had been held before on Saturday.
The Standard Online
Dutch hockey consultants begin T&T work
Eric Verboom, a member of the Dutch consulting team of three hired to work with the T&T hockey squads, arrived in the country last week and has taken the opportunity to scout local talent at the T&T Hockey Board’s Easter Youth Tournament which began at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua, on March 29. Verboom, who has worked with the national men’s team in the past, is also using the time here in T&T to direct workshops for all national and Level I coaches along with conducting the senior men’s training sessions.
Rob Haantjes, another Dutch consultant has also began work and is presently in England conducting a training camp which began yesterday until tomorrow with the United Kingdom-based players including national captain, Kwandwane Browne and his Canterbury teammates who won the English Hockey league Conference East title last weekend in Mickel Pierre, Matthew Tang Nian and Evan-Piers Farrell. Haantjes and the coaching consultancy team which is completed by Roy Bax are part of the local hockey board’s drive to realise participation at the top level in world hockey for T&T.
The Trinidad Guardian
Have your say on new hockey tournament format
Dear Hockey Fan
Hockey Australia are proposing to run a new international invitational tournament under modified rules.
The players’ skills will be pushed to the limit in a fast and furious format while still staying true to the essence of the game. In order to make the game even faster and more exciting, this new stand alone tournament will be played with modified rules and added entertainment to make the game faster and more exciting.
What do you think about the idea of changing the rules and format of this once a year Hockey tournament? We want hockey fans to have your say on how to make the game of Hockey even more exciting!
The following survey will help Hockey Australia better understand what you want to see: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AGMYTYBT6
Hockey Australia is keen to hear what you would like to see at the tournament and we estimate the survey will take less than 15 minutes of your time to complete.
The survey will be open until Midnight (AEST), Wednesday 14th April
All survey responses will be private and the overall results will not be shared with any external parties other than the consultants that are assisting Hockey Australia with the development of the tournament.
Thank you for your time.
Hockey Australia